1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developing apparatus for developing a substance to be examined, for example, such as germs or bacteria, as a substance to be developed, and an image processing system for processing image data developed, and particularly, to a developing apparatus of an optical enlarging system in which a place bed on which a substance to be developed is placed is moved in a direction of axis of ordinate and in a direction of axis of abscissa nearly orthogonal to each other whereby the developing surface is divided into a plurality of areas to develop the substance to be developed, and an image processing system provided with such a developing apparatus as described.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In food hygiene fields or the like, there has been heretofore widely utilized an apparatus for detecting and measuring microorganisms such as bacteria which are present in food or the like. Microorganism detecting methods in these apparatuses include a culture method for cultivating a microorganism cell or the like on a plane culture medium formed to be solid by agar-agar or gelatin, and calculating a resultant colony (a group of germs) as the number of live-germs, an ATP (adenosine 3 phosphoric acid) detection method for detecting fluorescence generated from reaction between light-emitting protein originated from a firefly to judge the presence of microorganisms, or a fluorescent dyeing method for using a fluorescent reagent different in wavelength, utilizing fluorescent dyeing, and detecting nature different in germ by one-time processing. Various methods have been utilized according to the environments for detecting microorganisms such as germs.
As one example of such an apparatus as described above, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-286296 Publication is disclosed a microorganism measuring apparatus for confirming the number of live-cells and dead-cells in the substance to be examined. In this apparatus, a solution in which microorganisms are contained is adhered to the plate surface, a detection reagent is dropped, after which an exciting-light light source is lighted from the lower part of the plate, the microorganism on the plate is emitted by fluorescent light at a fluorescent light receiving portion, and microorganisms which emit a fluorescent light by a spectral film which transmits only a specific waveform specific are emitted in light in every single substance. And by calculating the light-emitting single substances, the number of live-cells or the number of dead-cells are measured, whereby the existing live-cells are calculated to confirm the number of live-cells and dead-cells in the substance to be examined.
In the apparatus of this kind, there is utilized a developing means (hereinafter referred to as a “CCD” camera) using a charge-coupled element (hereinafter referred to as “CCD” (Charge-Coupled Devices) in which in order to convert an amount of light received into an electric signal to obtain image data, charges produced in a photodiode are stored in a capacitor, which is transmitted outside in accordance with a fixed clock to thereby enable using it as a video signal. In this case, for the charge-coupled device, there is one called a MOS type (Metal-Oxide Semiconductor), whose fundamental principle for converting light into a charge is common to the aforementioned CCD type.
Generally, the CCD camera is being widely used not only as the measuring device for microorganisms described above but also as a developing unit in a variety of fields. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-241127(241127/1996) Publication discloses a surface inspection apparatus in which an illumination light is irradiated to a magnetic head, a substance to be inspected (a substance to be developed), by an illumination device, and an image signal having its transmission light or reflection light developed by a developing apparatus is processed by an image processing apparatus to detect foreign matter or defect of the substance to be inspected. This surface inspection apparatus is further equipped with a positioning mechanism for the substance to be inspected. Also in the above conventional apparatus, the CCD camera is used as a developing unit, and in order to inspect (develop) a plurality of positions of a magnetic head as an object to be inspected (developed), a stage on which the magnetic head is placed is moved in a longitudinal direction and in a lateral direction on the plane, and the inspection (development) is executed in fixed plural positions. At this time, in order to correct a focus deviation relative to an area of object to be inspected (an area of object to be developed) of the magnetic head as the stage moves, this apparatus is provided with an automatic focusing mechanism which functions so as to adjust a focal point to the surface of each area to be inspected (each area to be developed).
Incidentally, in the conventional apparatus as described, in order to eliminate the focus deviation as the substance to be developed, there is contemplated an apparatus configuration in which a substance to be developed is fixedly arranged without moving it to develop a wide range of developing areas at a time. However, under the conditions that a resolution is fixed to secure a fixed image quality, it is necessary to employ an expensive CCD corresponding to a high pixel, and in order to suppress the manufacturing cost of an inspection apparatus, a substance to be developed is unavoidably moved. Further, the above-described conventional apparatus is equipped with an automatic focusing mechanism, the high manufacturing cost and larger size of the inspection apparatus are brought forth.
Further, out of the aforementioned developing apparatus using the CCD camera, there is known an apparatus in which a stage is held free to move between a developing position at which a substance to be developed is positioned opposite the CCD camera and a detachable position of a substance to be developed away from the developing position. This developing apparatus requires an optical enlarging system developing apparatus in which a single substance to be developed is finely divided into a plurality of developing areas, and each of the finely divided developing areas is moved to a fixed developing position under the CCD camera to develop an image, and further, where a substance to be developed having a large size as compared with a developing range of the CCD camera is developed, there is necessary a carriage means in which a stage on which a substance to be developed is placed is moved in a direction of an axis of abscissa (X direction) of the developing surface and in a direction of an axis of ordinate (Y direction) orthogonal thereto to move the substance to be developed in a two-dimensional direction (X-Y), whereby the substance to be developed is divided into a plurality of developing areas, and image data is obtained every area thus divided.
In the conventional developing apparatus as described, the substance to be developed is placed on the apparatus, or the moving mechanism for moving the substance to be developed from the detachable position for removing it from the apparatus to the developing position under the CCD camera, and the moving mechanism for moving the substance to be developed in the X-Y direction within the developing area are constituted by separate moving means, or a 2-dimensional moving mechanism is employed which is able to drive simultaneously the movement in the X direction within the developing area and the movement in the Y direction. Therefore, the mechanism of the apparatus becomes complex, as a consequence of which the large size and higher cost of the apparatus can not be avoided.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a developing apparatus, preventing a developing unit for developing a substance to be inspected (substance to be developed) from larger size and higher cost, in which a movement of a substance to be developed from a detachable position to a developing area under a developing unit and a 2-dimensional a movement (a direction of axis of ordinate and a direction of axis of abscissa) of the substance to be developed in a developing area are carried out by a simple mechanism, and an image processing system for processing a plurality of image data developed by such a developing apparatus as described.
It is a further object of the present invention is to provide a developing apparatus which realizes smaller size and lower cost of a developing unit for developing a substance to be inspected (a substance to be developed), and which is able to achieve desired developing accuracy without occurrence of a focus deviation with respect to a substance to be developed which moves developing areas divided into plural.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a developing apparatus which is able to maintain distance accuracy relative to a developing unit within an extremely small focus depth even if the apparatus body is not installed in an ideal horizontal state or even if vibrations are applied from outside or inside of the apparatus body, and which enables developing within a range of an extremely small vibration amount of a substance to be developed during exposure for long period of time.